Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Oh Bryce

You silly kid. Some guys you put at first base because they don't have the talent to play elsewhere. Other you put at first base because you don't have room for them elsewhere. And a select few play first base because if you put them in a position where they can run into walls at full speed they'll do it. I'm not saying Bryce should play first now, but there's something to be said about keeping this kid healthy and "lucite box with holes punched in it" is still not an official position.

Otherwise good start. ZNN was fantastic again. Ok there was a lot of stranded runners again (you aren't going to scatter hits forever) but once again he had no walks and only 4 3-ball counts (Fun Fact #1 : he gave up a hit in each one saying to me - I'd rather throw a meatball than give up a walk. Not the best 3-ball approach but if it's what's keeping him not walking people in general throw them meatballs. Fun Fact #2 : ZNN has only gone 3-0 to one five batters this season. That's a commitment to throwing strikes. Was better when I thought it was 1 though)

The offense was more timely than impressive, taking advantage of another team's errors for once, but whatever. They win.

Tonight it's Kershaw vs Haren. Haren's pitched better lately but around that quality Atlanta game was a couple of outings that were as much luck as good pitching. Last game, to me, looked like a Tiger crushing that just never quite came together in time. So we'll see. The Dodgers aren't a particularly good offensive team but they've been hotter recently. Kershaw of course is Kershaw and we'll see if the Nats can scratch out a couple or catch him on a bad day.

Bryce seems to be on a learning curve -- a steep learning curve -- when it comes to playing the outfield. How many times will he run into the wall before he either does serious damage or learns to stop? Publicly, Davey says that he doesn't want to discourage this aggressiveness. I hope the private message is altogether different.

Some players get more attention than others. I've always thought Clayton Kershaw doesn't get enough attention given how good he is. He's been the best pitcher in the NL for the last few years and he's incredibly young. Yet it seems Strasburg gets more attention. I love Strasburg, mind you, but these sorts of things seem to happen, even with players in big cities like L.A.

At least Zimm is starting to heat up with the bat. Does anyone think he's standing off the plate so far so he doesn't get jammed/hurt his shoulder? Is there a chance he got into this habit when he was hurting and just hasn't adjusted back since? Seems like there is a huge hole low and away, where all he's gonna be able to do is foul pitches off or hit weak fly balls... then again, I'm sure he is a LOT better than I am, so maybe I should just leave it alone and let him do things his way. It is STRIKING though, how far off the plate he sets up compared to the rest of the team.

I always wonder when people ask about personal information about me. As far as I know I'm the only "Harper Gordek" in the world so you can pretty easily suss out almost everything about me from a few web searches (including my "dozens of guys look like me" appearance and my middle-tone, slightly mumbly, too fast speech)